Game 43 Preview: Manchester at Reading

Game 43 Preview: Manchester at Reading   BIG Saturday features Marvel™  Super Hero Night, DCU Wall of Honor Night and DCU Puck Giveaway and

Reading, PA – The Reading Royals (19-15-3-5, 46 pts., 5th North), proud ECHL affiliate of the Philadelphia Flyers and Lehigh Valley Phantoms, jockey for division positioning with the Manchester Monarchs (23-19-1-1, 48 pts., T-3rd North) on a jam-packed promotional Saturday at Santander Arena. Here’s what’s going on Saturday in downtown Reading.Saturday promotions1) MARVEL™ Super Hero Night: Royals will wear Black Panther jerseys2) 4-for-48 Family Four Packs: 4 burgers, 4 sodas and 4 tickets for $48.3) Diamond Credit Union “Mark Thompson/Pat Richards” Puck Giveaway to the first 2,000 fans.4) Diamond Credit Union Wall of Honor night: The Royals will honor broadcasters Mark Thompson and Pat Richards.Saturday’s game is the first of a back-to-back with Manchester. The Royals are also home Sun., Feb. 3 at 2:00 p.m., featuring another Family Four Pack game (4 burgers, 4 sodas and 4 tickets for $48).Reading last played Friday at Adirondack and dropped, 4-2. Rookies Tyler Bird and Alex Roos scored.The Monarchs edged Maine Friday, 3-2. Manchester has won four of their last five games and the Monarchs are tied with Brampton for third in the North. A Reading regulation win and a regulation loss by Brampton Saturday will even Reading for third place.Listen to today’s game on the Mixlr App and Mixlr.com/ReadingRoyals, with pregame coverage starting 15 minutes before puck drop.How have Royals done in back to backs vs. ManchesterThe Royals and Monarchs play their first back-to-back set of the season this weekend. The last time these teams played on consecutive days was in March 2018. Reading notched a 6-0 win in regulation and then came from three goals down to win, 5-4, in the shootout. John Muse played both games for the Royals, making a total of 65 saves. Ryan Penny tied the game at four to force overtime in the final five minutes. The second win clinched Reading its ninth consecutive postseason appearance.When playing Manchester on consecutive days, Reading is 6-8-2-0.

                                          Head to Head Reading in 2-2-1-1 against Manchester this season. The teams played three times in January; Manchester won all three, one in overtime and two in regulation. In the Jan. 16 defeat, Josh MacDonald scored the lone Royals goal in the 3-1 loss. In the previous matchup on Jan. 11, Frank DiChiara gave Reading it's only tally.Chris McCarthy (1g, 8pts.), Alex Roos (3g, 6pts.), and Jack Riley (1g, 3pts.) lead the team in season-series points.Andrew D’Agostini is 0-0-1-0 against the Monarchs this season with a 1.95 goals against average and .943 save percentage. Callum Booth is 1-2-0-0 against Manchester this season with a 3.48 goals against average and a .895 save percentage. In the Jan. 16 matchup, Booth made 23 saves (3 GA).Cole Kehler is 1-0-0-0 against the Royals this season with a 1.01 goals against average and a .969 save percentage, making 31 saves (1 GA) Jan. 16 in his only game against the Royals this season. Charles Williams is undefeated (3-0-0-0) in his appearances against the Royals with a 1.61 goals against average and .956 save percentage.Daniil Miromanov leads Manchester in season-series points (1g, 5pts.). Miromanov is followed by three players who have four points each: Cory Ward, Travis Walsh, Spencer Watson.Scouting ManchesterSpencer Watson leads the team in points (15g, 33 pts.), with rookie Nic Pierog following (18g, 30pts.). Watson generated his second career hat trick Jan. 26 vs. Maine and has six points in his last four games. Since scoring twice against the Royals Jan. 5, Pierog has accumulated two goals and four points in 11 games.The Monarchs are 4-1 in overtime and 1-1 in the shootout.The club has three goalies on the roster; Charles Williams (21 GP), Cole Kehler (10 GP) and Danny Tirone (5 GP). Williams has posted an 12-7-0-1 mark, 2.40 goals against average and .927 save percentage. In ten appearances, Kehler is 5-5-0-0 with a 3.83 goals against average and .890 save percentage.Williams has played in 12 of the last 15 Monarchs games, going 7-4-0-0.Special TeamsReading enters Saturday’s game in the middle of the pack on the power play at 17.4%. Frank DiChiara leads the team in power-play goals (5).The Monarchs rank 21st in the league on the power play at 15.0%. The Monarchs have seen the fewest power-play chances this season (147). Spencer Watson has four power-play goals for Manchester this season, followed by Pavel Jenys with three.The Royals penalty kill went 3-for-3 Saturday to lift to 78.9%. Nick Luukko and Adam Schmidt each have one short-handed goal. Newcomer Tyson Fawcett also has one short-handed goal this season from his time with the Jacksonville Icemen.Manchester is a few slots above the Royals on the kill at 81.9%. The team also has been short-handed the fewest times (144). Craig Wyszomirski and David Kolomatis each have one short-handed goal for the Monarchs.Reading has scored on one of their 13 man-up chances against the Monarchs this season (7.7%). Manchester has scored on four of their twenty chances (20%).About the RoyalsThe Royals are in their 18th ECHL season and proudly affiliated with the NHL’s Philadelphia Flyers and AHL’s Lehigh Valley Phantoms. Reading plays in the Santander Arena, located in downtown Reading, PA at 700 Penn Street. The Royals won the Kelly Cup in 2013, have made the playoffs in nine straight seasons and are four-time division champions.Listen to all Royals broadcasts at Mixlr.com/ReadingRoyals or by downloading the Mixlr App from the App Store or Google Play.